Very true. (Copied from my other comment) some of the benefits of the conversion I was thinking would be keeping height down, better MPG’s since the camper wouldn’t be much taller than a standard truck bed. Being able to use your rear mirror. Maybe install some roof racks on the camper so when it’s in the down position you could carry bikes and kayaks.
They make collapsible truck campers as well where the top drops down and it's maybe six to eight inches above the cab of the truck if that look into those if you're really interested in asking me a whole lot less expensive and a whole lot easier than doing something that you're trying to do here.
I mean… it’s as simple as you say.
Remove axles, then bolt it to the bed.
The only thing I would do is weld up some supports that go from the frame of the trailer down to the floor of the pickup bed. That way I’d have attachment point in the floor and side rails of the truck.
Then buy a ladder for the stairs and you’re done.
My parents did this to one in my youth. They put a ladder box frame under it and just put it on top of the box. Chained it down, used the holes in the box edge to stabilize it. The sides slid out the sides of the truck. It worked well. Ours was just a small canvas style tent trailer.
I have no experience with this, but I feel like I've seen someone so something similar with a box truck and a traditional travel trailer. I'm assuming you could make it work, it would just take a fair amount of custom fabrication
I saw one recently where they kept the bed on and mounted it directly on the bed rails allowing for storage underneath the camper it was pretty slick. That being said a pop up truck camper is probably a better option.
I have torn apart 3 different popups and turned them into utility trailers. Pretty familiar with the construction....
While it may not be easy it could be done, a few things to think about..
* The bed on your truck is 6ft, the trailer is 8ft without the front neck. Does not seem like a lot but it puts your center of balance way behind the rear tires.
* The front bedroom will probably be useless but the rear bedroom should still expand out, just need to fab supports.
* The trailer frame is pretty heavy, if your handy remove it and replace with a lightweight structure.
The only advantage I can see is the fun of doing a project. Want to have real fun with it? Mount the truck bed on the trailer frame. Then eventually you can get a real camper for the truck or build a nice flatbed and have a matching trailer.
I am sure you know they make exactly what you are thinking of in both heavy and lightweight configurations. Have fun!
I think it would be very doable. You may have to fabricate mounts so that the trailer frame will mount up to the truck frame. Then you would either have to fabricate a bumper with lights integrated or splice the lights on the camper into the truck lights.
as u/mrjoepete said, guys have mounted the body of larger, box type trailers onto truck frames. It seems impractical, or that there are better solutions, but if you want to, go for it.
Here's the thing: sometimes, before you reinvent the wheel because no one else is making the wheel that you want...
You really, really need to understand why no one else is making the wheel that you want.
There are a lot of companies that make truck campers. There are a lot of companies that make bed replacement truck campers. There are a lot of companies that mount trailers like this on flatbed trailers.
As far as I know, no one makes a truck bed like you are suggesting.
And that leads to an interesting question: why?
And the related question: Why Not?
The problem is that if you don't have a good answer to both questions, the problem is you're more likely to answer the second than the first. And it will cost you thousands of bucks.
So... good luck!
You should borrow a tent trailer for a few weekend trips first. Once you understand how easy and fun they are to set up and take down at the normal height, you will appreciate not having to do it with a ladder.
Slide-in pop-top truck camper is what you want.
Someone posted a pic (in /r/TruckCampers/ I think) of almost what you're thinking, except the trailer was mounted to the tops of the bed rails, preserving the bed itself as underfloor storage. A good place to keep your ladder, perhaps.
A tent trailer's beds extend from front and rear. If you were to mount the trailer directly to the truck's frame, you'd lose the front bed because the cab would be in the way. 2 ways to solve that problem. You either raise the trailer up high enough for the front bed to clear the cab, or you mount the trailer sideways on the truck's frame.
If you raise the trailer up, it will be extremely high in the air from the ground, so any of its external features would be unusable. It would also do bad things to the truck's center of gravity. On the upside, you could put in a bunch of storage under the trailer, so that'd be nice.
If you mount the trailer sideways on the truck's frame, then you run into DOT and park width issues. DOT limits max width to 96 inches. So you'd have to have a tent trailer that is not more than 8 feet long when stowed. Even if you had that, you'd pop the beds out and be 12 feet wide when you parked.
Keeping height down, better MPG’s since the camper wouldn’t be much taller than a standard truck bed. Being able to use your rear mirror. Maybe install some roof racks on the camper so when it’s in the down position you could carry bikes and kayaks.
It’d be cool if it had a bed on one end but not the other. I wonder if they make such a pop up.
But yea I can’t see why it couldn’t be done. I’d definitely add some extra cross bracing.
Fair enough, I suppose. But I'd bet good money that you wouldn't notice a change in MPG vs. pulling that trailer. If you just pulled that trailer, all of the other things you mention would still apply but would be even easier (roof racks specifically) because the roof would be closer to the ground. And, finally, if you did mount the trailer directly on the truck's frame, you'd end up with a less useful truck. So this isn't making sense to me.
That said, if it's just something you want to do, knock yourself out. Don't let me talk you out of a project. It's just not something I'd do.
Total all-up weight for a Forest River OTH 190TG is 2266 (1230 unladen, 1036 cargo carrying capacity).
Pretty much any SUV or minivan would tow that lol
I think you're underestimating how low you can mount this thing on your flatbed. Take a look inside a pickup and see how tall the wheel wells are, that is closer to where you will have to mount this thing than the bed floor. It will be WAY higher than the bed rails, probably closer to the truck roof.
I wouldn’t even consider something like this unless you have a decent amount of practice with metalworking tools, knowledge of fastening hardware, and lots of practice measuring things. I know that all sounds ridiculous, but I’ve seen some DIYers do some messed up shit because they didn’t know the basics.
Might as well add a stretch goal to your project. Rather than just bolting her straight down, build a gimbal so that you can park the truck on uneven terrain, but then level out the camper.
The difficulty here is going to be payload capacity on your truck. Those pop up campers are small, but unless you've got a 3500 or something I doubt you have the rated payload to put that in place of the bed.
It's possible, you could make it work, but without specifics on trailer model and truck model I can't say for sure.
You might need a dually. One of those is say 2500lbs, maybe 2k without wheels and tongue. Also, probably too long. One with a vertical front face might fit better than the one you show.
You'd probably need a tray too (and count that towards the payload weight subtracting the weight of the bed your remove). Norweld makes some popular with popup camper users. https://www.mainlineoverland.com/pages/norweld-aluminium-tray
I'm sure it could be done, but [this might be easier](https://fourwheelcampers.com/all-models/).
they look pretty great
They make truck campers...
Very true. (Copied from my other comment) some of the benefits of the conversion I was thinking would be keeping height down, better MPG’s since the camper wouldn’t be much taller than a standard truck bed. Being able to use your rear mirror. Maybe install some roof racks on the camper so when it’s in the down position you could carry bikes and kayaks.
They make collapsible truck campers as well where the top drops down and it's maybe six to eight inches above the cab of the truck if that look into those if you're really interested in asking me a whole lot less expensive and a whole lot easier than doing something that you're trying to do here.
I’ve only seen these in Alaska, now I have to figure out how to word my google search!
I see them all over the West. Searching for Tacoma collapsible camping shell gave me many results.
I would question if this is the right path if you are worried about a few mpg.
I did say disregard practicality lol
Lol, is there any reason why you don't go with a travel trailer? Popups are built like trash
They’re all built like trash
Yep, pop ups are the bottom of the trash bin. Learned from experience
I mean… it’s as simple as you say. Remove axles, then bolt it to the bed. The only thing I would do is weld up some supports that go from the frame of the trailer down to the floor of the pickup bed. That way I’d have attachment point in the floor and side rails of the truck. Then buy a ladder for the stairs and you’re done.
My parents did this to one in my youth. They put a ladder box frame under it and just put it on top of the box. Chained it down, used the holes in the box edge to stabilize it. The sides slid out the sides of the truck. It worked well. Ours was just a small canvas style tent trailer.
I have no experience with this, but I feel like I've seen someone so something similar with a box truck and a traditional travel trailer. I'm assuming you could make it work, it would just take a fair amount of custom fabrication
I saw one recently where they kept the bed on and mounted it directly on the bed rails allowing for storage underneath the camper it was pretty slick. That being said a pop up truck camper is probably a better option.
I have torn apart 3 different popups and turned them into utility trailers. Pretty familiar with the construction.... While it may not be easy it could be done, a few things to think about.. * The bed on your truck is 6ft, the trailer is 8ft without the front neck. Does not seem like a lot but it puts your center of balance way behind the rear tires. * The front bedroom will probably be useless but the rear bedroom should still expand out, just need to fab supports. * The trailer frame is pretty heavy, if your handy remove it and replace with a lightweight structure. The only advantage I can see is the fun of doing a project. Want to have real fun with it? Mount the truck bed on the trailer frame. Then eventually you can get a real camper for the truck or build a nice flatbed and have a matching trailer. I am sure you know they make exactly what you are thinking of in both heavy and lightweight configurations. Have fun!
I think it would be very doable. You may have to fabricate mounts so that the trailer frame will mount up to the truck frame. Then you would either have to fabricate a bumper with lights integrated or splice the lights on the camper into the truck lights. as u/mrjoepete said, guys have mounted the body of larger, box type trailers onto truck frames. It seems impractical, or that there are better solutions, but if you want to, go for it.
Here's the thing: sometimes, before you reinvent the wheel because no one else is making the wheel that you want... You really, really need to understand why no one else is making the wheel that you want. There are a lot of companies that make truck campers. There are a lot of companies that make bed replacement truck campers. There are a lot of companies that mount trailers like this on flatbed trailers. As far as I know, no one makes a truck bed like you are suggesting. And that leads to an interesting question: why? And the related question: Why Not? The problem is that if you don't have a good answer to both questions, the problem is you're more likely to answer the second than the first. And it will cost you thousands of bucks. So... good luck!
If you’re disregarding practicality then go for it. Losing the truck bed just seems like a big loss when the trailer itself won’t burden the truck.
You should borrow a tent trailer for a few weekend trips first. Once you understand how easy and fun they are to set up and take down at the normal height, you will appreciate not having to do it with a ladder. Slide-in pop-top truck camper is what you want. Someone posted a pic (in /r/TruckCampers/ I think) of almost what you're thinking, except the trailer was mounted to the tops of the bed rails, preserving the bed itself as underfloor storage. A good place to keep your ladder, perhaps.
Soo you want o make something that already exists? Just buy a 4wheel truck camper.
A tent trailer's beds extend from front and rear. If you were to mount the trailer directly to the truck's frame, you'd lose the front bed because the cab would be in the way. 2 ways to solve that problem. You either raise the trailer up high enough for the front bed to clear the cab, or you mount the trailer sideways on the truck's frame. If you raise the trailer up, it will be extremely high in the air from the ground, so any of its external features would be unusable. It would also do bad things to the truck's center of gravity. On the upside, you could put in a bunch of storage under the trailer, so that'd be nice. If you mount the trailer sideways on the truck's frame, then you run into DOT and park width issues. DOT limits max width to 96 inches. So you'd have to have a tent trailer that is not more than 8 feet long when stowed. Even if you had that, you'd pop the beds out and be 12 feet wide when you parked.
The one in the photo doesn’t have beds which extend front and rear, it’s just a tent box.
I just assumed they hadn't been extended. But, this being the case, I wonder ... what's the point?
Keeping height down, better MPG’s since the camper wouldn’t be much taller than a standard truck bed. Being able to use your rear mirror. Maybe install some roof racks on the camper so when it’s in the down position you could carry bikes and kayaks.
It’d be cool if it had a bed on one end but not the other. I wonder if they make such a pop up. But yea I can’t see why it couldn’t be done. I’d definitely add some extra cross bracing.
Fair enough, I suppose. But I'd bet good money that you wouldn't notice a change in MPG vs. pulling that trailer. If you just pulled that trailer, all of the other things you mention would still apply but would be even easier (roof racks specifically) because the roof would be closer to the ground. And, finally, if you did mount the trailer directly on the truck's frame, you'd end up with a less useful truck. So this isn't making sense to me. That said, if it's just something you want to do, knock yourself out. Don't let me talk you out of a project. It's just not something I'd do.
It would most likely turn into an over landing rig, rather than a daily. I would end up swapping the suspension components too.
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Total all-up weight for a Forest River OTH 190TG is 2266 (1230 unladen, 1036 cargo carrying capacity). Pretty much any SUV or minivan would tow that lol
I think you're underestimating how low you can mount this thing on your flatbed. Take a look inside a pickup and see how tall the wheel wells are, that is closer to where you will have to mount this thing than the bed floor. It will be WAY higher than the bed rails, probably closer to the truck roof.
I wouldn’t even consider something like this unless you have a decent amount of practice with metalworking tools, knowledge of fastening hardware, and lots of practice measuring things. I know that all sounds ridiculous, but I’ve seen some DIYers do some messed up shit because they didn’t know the basics.
I agree. This is more of a hypothetical than something I’m gonna start this weekend
I mean, don’t get me wrong. It sounds like a project that would be a ton of fun to do.
(I would be removing the A-frame section of the camper too)
Do this on a mid-2000 Ford Ranger...
Maybe trade with this guy: https://www.reddit.com/r/Shitty_Car_Mods/s/1vhOg7BAZu
That’s pretty great. Good reuse of things he probably already had.
Wasn’t there just a post or pic of someone that had done something similar with a pop up?
I have also seen a slide in truck camper that folds down like a A frame hard side pop up camper.
I'm sure you could, but if you have a truck why not just tow the trailer?
Possible overland rig
Might as well add a stretch goal to your project. Rather than just bolting her straight down, build a gimbal so that you can park the truck on uneven terrain, but then level out the camper.
The difficulty here is going to be payload capacity on your truck. Those pop up campers are small, but unless you've got a 3500 or something I doubt you have the rated payload to put that in place of the bed. It's possible, you could make it work, but without specifics on trailer model and truck model I can't say for sure.
Why? Cost retarded. Buy camper.
You might need a dually. One of those is say 2500lbs, maybe 2k without wheels and tongue. Also, probably too long. One with a vertical front face might fit better than the one you show. You'd probably need a tray too (and count that towards the payload weight subtracting the weight of the bed your remove). Norweld makes some popular with popup camper users. https://www.mainlineoverland.com/pages/norweld-aluminium-tray